


Beth Greene Lives

by Persefata



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: All Out War Arc (Walking Dead), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Beth Greene & Noah Friendship, Beth Greene Lives, Canon Rewrite, Carl Grimes Lives, Daryl & Noah Friendship, F/M, Implied Bethyl, Inspired By Boy With A Scar, Noah lives, Post-All Out War Arc (Walking Dead), dyslexic writer, writer is not a native English speaker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:06:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28194420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Persefata/pseuds/Persefata
Summary: What if, in the Grady Memorial hallway. Beth had walked to her family, instead of attacking Dawn? What if the girl had survived ?.---On the day the group came back after the first contact with Negan, with empty eyes and hopeless expressions, the day a defeated Rick told the girl that Daryl wasn't coming back home so soon, Beth thought about that man, who took care of her on the road, that had taught her how to use a bow and don't take shit from anyone, that went for her in Grady Memorial.Other people look at Daryl Dixon and see a white trash redneck, a man made for the screwed new world.Beth Greene looks at him and sees family.When Rick told that Daryl wasn't coming back, she took a deep breath, gathered her things in a ratty old bag, wrote a two-page letter to Maggie, and tried not to think about how good she was becoming in leaving without looking back.
Relationships: Beth Greene & Noah (Walking Dead: Grady Memorial Hospital), Daryl Dixon/Beth Greene, Daryl Dixon/Beth Greene/Noah (Walking Dead: Grady Memorial Hospital)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	Beth Greene Lives

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Beth Greene Vive](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/728892) by persefata. 
  * A translation of [Beth Greene Vive](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/732912) by persefata. 



> So, this is my second attempt to translate my old fanfictions to English, if you find mistakes, please let me know. I'll appreciate it!

Beth Greene used to be a common girl, with even more mundane aspirations.

  
She had a map above her cherry dresser, with all the places she wanted to go circled in red, Dallas, Seattle, New Orleans, cities full of life, culture, and engaging people. 

Maggie always had wanted to go to college and conquer the world, just like Shawn.

Beth never was ambitious. She didn't have special talents or found herself destined for greatness. Beth wanted a house with blue shutters, children - that she'd love more than anything - and a calm marriage, just like her parents had. Those were the silly dreams of an even sillier girl that probably never would do anything interesting with her own life.

Then the world ended, her mother and brother died, and the girl's home became full of strangers that talked in whispered tones about what was happening out there, but she still couldn't see the difference.

Beth still slept every night and woke up every morning in the same bed, in the same bedroom, with the same yellow curtains and the same map above the dresser, full of cities marked in red.

The girl only understood when the barn doors burst open and her mother. Her beautiful, wise, and loving mother. Who used to brush her hair, that taught her how to play the piano and always see the best in the worst, tried to kill her.

Rick's people had to drag her away, and she felt like she was floating outside her own body. They looked at her with pity, that poor, naive child. That had no chance at surviving. Beth wasn't stupid but was stubborn, and if she didn't get to live on her own terms, then she sure as hell would die in them - the girl didn't know yet that those terms did not include cut her own wrists in the bathroom sink - When she decided that wanted to live, Beth swore that, regardless of how dark the things would become, she'd stay true to herself and to the people she loved. 

She also didn't know how hard keep that promise along the way would be. 

\------------

Maybe in another world, things would end differently but, in that afternoon, with the boiling sun falling over the heart of a ruined Atlanta and two groups on opposite sides of the white hospital hallway, Beth saw the reflection of her full of hate face in Dawn's eyes and decided to turn her back instead of attacking the other woman.

That terrible new world turned the girl into someone that lies, manipulates, kills in cold blood. That new world forced her to fight tooth and nail and perseverance she didn't even know she had to survive till there.

Above All, Beth Greene wanted to live but turn herself into a monster wasn't a price she was willing to pay.

'' I get it now ''. The girl said calmly, forgetting the scissor inside her plaster because some people just didn't worth it.

When Dawn asked Noah back, just for malice and spite and Beth's group, Beth's family, started to move against the exigence, a shot ended what could become a blood bath. The bullet came from the officer's side of the hallway, and her body fell on the floor that Beth had polished that morning with an audible thud.

'' Someone had to did what was needed ''. They said. '' Someone had to take control ''.

Beth wasn't interested in stand there listening to their excuses. She was grateful that they hadn't chosen her to do the dirty work for once. She turned her back without a look behind, laughing with Noah for the miracle of both of them escaping that awful place. Dawn had made her damn bed. She could rot in it now.

Beth was received with tears and hugs. She looked to the covered in sweat faces of every one of those wonderful people and only could think of how important they were. Of course they had come for her, they were her people, and even if there wasn't prison or any other place to go back to, she felt at home. She was with family.

Maggie was so euphoric with the reunion of the two of them that she dropped Beth in a tight hug, later telling her little sister about the false cure and the hope of a future in Washington.

Daryl just orbited around the girl, completely speechless and trying not to look as happy as he really was.

'' I told you that you were going to miss me, Daryl Dixon ''. Greene said, throwing her arms around the hunter's neck and pretending she didn't felt the hiccups shuddering his body.

Beth and Daryl hadn't been particularly close before the fall of the prison, but the kind of connection that forms itself when two people risk their lives together can make anyone close.

Carl was the one that told her about the new people; Abraham, Rosita, Eugene, Tara, and Gabriel. He told her about Terminus, about the cannibals in the church.

'' You don't have to be afraid of your own violence, Carl. The people that come from places like that terminus won't have ''. She said, snatching a grumpy Judith of the boy's arms before taking an apple popsicle from the pocket of her worn-out dirty jeans and throwing it at him.

It was impossible not to think about her time in Grady Memorial, in the horrific things she had done to protect herself, Noah, and later, Carol.

'' Let's go. Noah has a set of cards in his backpack. If we are lucky, Daryl will teach us how to play poker ''. She ended the conversation, settling Judith in her hip and putting an arm around Carl's shoulders, leading him back to the others.

Rick direct her a grateful look, and she smiled brightly at him. It was good to be back.

Persuade Daryl into teaching them was hard, but at the end of the trip till Noah's community, every member of the group, except Judith and Gabriel, had played at less one time. Carol, unsurprisingly, was the best of them.

Even in a world with Beth Greene, where there were fewer tears, less grief, and less regret, the group still had losses to deal with. But Beth had walked out of that hospital alive and decided that it would be unfair to fight the future difficulties with nothing less than the strongest resilience. She still was the girl that sang around a bonfire at the end of the world. She still was the girl that filled the pages of an old diary with dreams and hope in the confinement of the prison she called home. The same girl that gave up her freedom so a friend could go home. Beth was human, yes, but she wasn't weak.

\-----------

In Noah's community, the boy found his house destroyed, corpses of friends and neighbors walking through the ruined streets. 

Beth thought about the farm, in her father's prayers where he talked about hope. His kind hands, his unshakable faith. She thought about her bedroom, with yellow curtains and a map above the dresser. She would never see that bedroom again. She never would pray holding Hershel's hands again. She would never receive a goodnight kiss from her mother or hug her brother one last time.

Beth had lost almost every familiar thing in her life, she knew the weight of grief, and that was a burden she couldn't let Noah carry alone. When she saw her friend's mother's corpse on the ground, Beth covered it with a blanket, hugging the boy tight when the strength on his legs failed to keep him on foot.

'' Everything is going to be okay, Noah. You're with us now. You are with family ''. That path wouldn't be smooth, and the future didn't seem promising, but they still had one another, and Beth always was grateful for the small miracles - or in this case - the big ones.

From there, everything happened almost the same way, Tyreese died hallucinating with the news on a radio that only he could hear. Sasha lost her mind, and Noah thought he wouldn't survive until Washington, where the unknown waited for them. Except that he had Beth, holding his hand, calling him  _ brave _ . Except that now he had Maggie, welcoming him with open arms on that improvised family.

The sun still was too hot on the head, the lack of food still affected all of them, Sasha's breakdown still almost cost Abraham his life, and Daryl found the barn when he went hunting. Except that instead of the muffled sound of his crying, there was his laugh when Beth chocked on the smoke of her first cigarette, handed to her by Dixon and away from Maggie's watchful eyes.

Noah still was shaken, traumatized by the losses, but at that moment in the middle of the woods, with sweat making his clothes stick on the skin and Daryl's hoarse laughter, seemed the first step on the road of recovery. They were alive, and Beth's words seemed more than ever a promise.  _ '' Everything's going to be okay. You're with family ''. _

During the storm that night, the group sat around a bonfire. The orange light of the fire bathing the faces of every one of those people made them look untouchable, full of a feverish determination. Beth remembered her lessons in church about sinners and the doomsday. Her eyes fell on Judith, sleeping peacefully in her brother's arms, and she wished she didn't have lost so much time with those silly lessons.

Rick said they were the walking dead, Daryl vehemently opposed without hesitation, his gaze stopping over Beth for a second. She didn't even try to hide her smile.

The storm almost took down the barn's doors and led a legion of walkers that growled and scratched the wood as if they could dig the way inside. That world wanted them dead, but Beth had stopped to obey the world's whim a long time ago and got up to hold the doors, to hold her own survival, with everything she had.

\-----------

Observing the group interactions even in that hellish times - the affectionate way Carol dealt with them, the way Tara always tried to keep up the good mod, that Rick always certified that they were safe, that Maggie was always full of wisdom and Daryl, protectivity - observing those people, that  _ family _ , was easy understand what Aaron had seen in them when he made a proposal that seemed too good to be true.

_ I would die for them _ . Beth thought calmly. _ I'd kill for them. _

When Rick told Aaron that if his people didn't come back in one hour, he was dead, Beth approached with Judith in her arms, rocking the sleeping girl softly, and said: '' If they don't come back in one hour, I will make you wish death ''.

Aaron looked at that girl, barely more than a teenager, with big blue eyes that seemed to know his worst secrets and shallowed hard, believing in her.

Things worked out naturally. Rick and his understandable paranoia, a trip full of tension till the said safe zone.

Just like the others, Beth had to sit in a white armchair in front of a camera. It didn't bother her the way Deanna was looking at her fragile appearance, at the scar on her wrist.  _ '' They don't know anything about me, about who I'm, about who you are '' _ . Noah had said, in Grady Memorial, in a time where scaping Dawn's claws seemed impossible, but there she was, sitting on an armchair and talking about her boring life on the farm. There was a great advantage in being overlooked.

Alexandria was beyond her most ambitious dreams, and the group adapted surprisingly fast to that new utopic reality. Carol and Michoone moved in with Carl and Rick. Maggie found a pretty house to share with Glenn, and Beth settled down on an apartment, having Noah and Daryl as her roommates. If someone asked her when exactly they had become a package deal, the girl wouldn't know the answer, just that somewhere along the way had happened.

Beth Greene was the only thing Daryl and Noah had in common. When they met, the two left their differences behind in favor of rescuing her, and eventually, the woman was enough for them to bond about. The falsely polite smiles behind the words of the good citizens of Alexandria that suggested not so subtly that Daryl was nothing but a redneck were answered with sharp and humiliating words in a way smart enough that they doubted what they had heard, after a while,

the residents of Alexandria learned not to speak ill of Daryl where Noah could hear.

Daryl responded with threats to anyone who dared to call Noah a burden, dead weight, and disposable. Even with a leg to slow him down, that boy was much more intelligent and capable than any of them would ever be and the fact that the others did not see it as clearly was offensive to the hunter.

Beth liked the community. She liked having a bed and a shower and doing simple things, like dining at Rick's house with their whole family laughing around the table as if life was a big holiday. But mostly, she liked the apartment she shared with her boys.

Their living room had a comfortable floral armchair in front of the fireplace, where she read, and Daryl cleaned the crossbow on the coffee table, with Noah sprawled on the sofa behind him, occasionally making sarcastic comments over one of the hunter's shoulders.

The nightmares continued, the nights filled with worry when one of them would go out for a run, life was not perfect, but it was good. Beth went to work at the small school of the place, she always liked children, and after Grady Memorial, it was great to be around brutally honest people. The walls of Alexandria and the possibilities they offered aroused Noah's desire to be an architect. Daryl, for the most part, seemed content enough to do anything that would allow him to keep an eye on the two  _ "stupid brats" _ which, according to the hunter himself, were his responsibility.

Perhaps in a world without Beth Greene, things would be drastically different, perhaps there Dixon felt too haunted, too ashamed to look at the remaining faces of the people in his group and family. Perhaps without Beth, Daryl considered himself unworthy of that paradise.

Despite the comfortable routine established by the trio - with burned breakfast on Noah's days of cooking, Daryl's boots leaving a trail of mud on the living room floor, the silent way in which the three of them communicated when someone was acting absurd or stupid - Alexandria was not a bed of roses. Glenn came back from a run bloody and furious, with Noah and Tara unconscious in the backseat of a van. It took all the rest of the group to hold back Beth and Daryl and stop them from kill Nicholas with their bare hands.

Noah was bitten on the arm trying to hold a door and woke up two days later with the limb amputated at the elbow. Beth was sitting beside the bed, eyes red from exhaustion.

''The other guy is worse ''. He tried to smile, his voice cracked and husky, but Greene just blew out an exhausted breath.

''Believe me, when I'm done with him, he really will be''.

''Deanna is investigating this whole place is a fucking joke''. Daryl's sullen voice was immediately recognized by the two teenagers. The hunter was standing on the doorstep, trying not to look too relieved by Noah's recovery.

"I'm fine, Tara is fine. That's all that matters". Noah assured them and Beth, pressing her lips together in a tight line, nodded.

Dixon made a disgusted sound with his mouth but approached the bed. "You two are too damn soft."

Noah's recovery was complicated, full of challenges. Eugene used all his ingenuity to assemble a metal prosthesis that would return mobility to what was left of the boy's arm, and Beth had to overcome her infirmary panic created by the experience at Grady Memorial to remain with her friend.  


\------------

Aiden Monroe's violent death turned Alexandria into dangerous territory for Rick's people. The older residents of the community closely watched each step of the newcomers. Deanna, maddened by mourning, began to use her people's fear as a tool to deal with that  _ problem _ . Despite the profound contempt she felt for the woman, Beth was not surprised. Weak leaders always would opt for the easiest way out, for the alternative that takes the responsibility of the consequences off their shoulders. Diana was not so different from Dawn, from the Governor or Shane. She wanted someone to do her dirty work and was willing to discard that person when they became an inconvenience.

Or maybe Beth was wrong, maybe Diana was just scared, doubt was a cruel thing. Even after all that time, it was as if the girl had never completely escaped the damn Grady Memorial.

Noah was still hurt, Daryl was stressed, and when the rest of the group started talking about taking Alexandria by force, Beth was the first to disagree. She had spent the past few days in constant thought, even if Diana was an incompetent leader, the girl couldn't help thinking about the farm, about her father keeping corpses in a barn in the delusion that it was just a disease, in the way Rick knew they were wrong but went over his own morals and agreed with that philosophy for the sake of his family. Beth thought that, along the way, she and her dad had become his family too.

'' They can still learn. I learned, Maggie learned, Daddy learned. ''

Rick went silent. The farm seemed like a lifetime ago, and even after all that time, there wasn't a single morning where he didn't miss Hershel Greene. Rick Grimes had seen many things, had done many things, had come a long way from King's small county, from that hospital in Atlanta, and had learned to listen to those people. He listened and pondered. Maybe it was too late, maybe it wasn't, anyway, some things are inevitable.

The sense of security in the community was restored as Rick took the lead. Grimes was not perfect, but he was better than most, and, unlike Deanna, he had a basic sense of the real world. On the night Reg Monroe was killed, after the whole Pete incident, Beth's family had gone to testify in defense of Rick Grimes.

Maggie talked about Rick being a father, Abraham about Rick knowing what he was doing. Carol used all of her skills as the best poker player in the group.

Beth chose to talk about the journey until there, about how that man they wanted to discard had turned a group of strangers into a family. About everything her people had experienced, Terminus, the Grady Memorial, with its leader who would have let Gorman rape Beth because that would keep him on track. Finally, she talked about the prison.

" A man cut off my father's head with a sword in front of me and my sister. He didn't do it because he was obliged. He did it because he could. Because he didn't care about the consequences. It's that kind of person who is out there, and if you think you can survive without Rick's help, you’re all already dead''. Beth wasn't there to deal with the shocked expressions or see the end of the meeting. She went to Michonne's place to tuck Carl and Judith into bed.

Daryl told her all the details at dawn, in the kitchen of their apartment, while Noah made coffee and Beth mended the injuries he had gotten during his run with Aaron, where they met a strange man named Morgan.

When the girl thought she would finally have a break, the situation of the quarry was discovered, the wolves attacked, several people died, and Beth had one of the most stressful months of her life.

She was with Noah in the infirmary during the fall of the wall. The fact that Daryl was still out there somewhere again was the only thing they could both think of. Night fell, lulled by the sound of the groans of the walkers. Beth was in the infirmary to help Denise when Rick brought Carl unconscious in his arms. The girl wiped the man's face while Michonne assisted Denise, thinking that if Ron Anderson wasn't already dead, she would certainly have killed him later.

When Rick, in the middle of an epiphany, took up his ax and left, Beth took Daryl's hunting knife from her belt, leaving the building's security to go out into the street to fight. Noah followed close behind.

They made their way through a hellish legion of the living dead. Fighting for Alexandria was worth it, fighting for that life was worth it. Beth told Rick that the community residents could still learn, that night, they showed how right she was. Daryl appeared in a damn truck, with a bloody RPG that set the lake on fire and saved them all. Greene wanted to cry and wanted to laugh at the same time, she opted for the second option when the man's arms caught her by surprise, enveloping her and Noah in a rare and comforting hug.

The next morning was difficult, Beth, Denise, and Carol were the only people with the medical knowledge to treat the wounded, and when the girl started napping in the infirmary corner, Noah and Daryl dragged her home and forced her to sleep.

The saviors came later, after Hilltop, and what happened at the outpost, when the promise of a bigger world, a new world, seemed realistic. Beth had come a long way from the farm, she was no longer the same person, but part of the girl still longed for the same silly things, birthdays parties, picnics, holidays ... except that those things had another form now; burnt breakfast, the comfortable armchair in front of the fireplace, whole conversations made with exchanging of looks.

\------------

w

hen the group returned from their first meeting with Negan, their faces full of dread and their eyes empty, with five fewer people and news so unbelievably horrible that left Beth speechless, she knew that everything had just gotten worse.

On the day that a defeated Rick told the girl that Daryl wasn't coming home so soon, Beth thought of that man, who had taken care of her on the road, who had taught her to use a crossbow and to not take shit from anyone, who had rescued her from Grady Memorial.

Other people looked at Daryl Dixon and saw an ignorant redneck, a man made for the twisted new world.

Beth Greene looked at him and saw family.

When Rick said Daryl wasn't coming back, Beth didn't cry. She was past that point. But the way her house no longer felt like home bothered the woman. There was no crossbow on the coffee table or mud stains on the floor. Noah was strangely quiet, taciturn. She took a deep breath and gathered her things in an old backpack. She said goodbye to each of the family members, wrote a two-page letter to Maggie, and tried not to think about how good she was becoming at leaving without looking back.

Noah, who was loyal even at the end of the world, refused to leave anyone behind and had come to see Daryl as family in the same way, packed his things too.

Convincing Negan was easy. He was too in love with the idea of taking something else of Rick to not allow those kids to go back with him to the Saviors base.

Noah was put to work as a cleaner. His injuries made him disposable in Negan's eyes, for Beth, the leader had other plans. He wanted credit for being the man responsible for turning that little girl into a weapon. When she refused to be part of his saviors, she was replaced at the product stands on the ground floor of the factory. He hoped that the miserable life exchanging points for food would be enough to make Beth rethink her decision.

Negan had no idea of who that girl was.

Being underestimated offered an almost unfair advantage because in the factory, among so many faceless workers, Beth was invisible. And Noah too. But his time at the Grady Memorial taught the importance of staying alert. Of being the smarter person in a room, and didn't let anyone see that. Under the explicit disdain and cruelty of Negan's men, he made connections, formulated plans.

It took more than a week for the two of them to see Daryl again, dressed in rags, looking like a shadow of himself. Negan liked to show him around like a trophy of Alexandria's surrender, of Rick's defeat.

The first time the hunter saw Beth working on the factory ground floor, his face became full of anger, then, concern. He knew what had happened to her and Gorman at Grady Memorial. The last thing that girl needed was to deal with the Saviors. However, hope was also among the many confused feelings of the man. Dixon saw Noah mopping the ground, his eyes lighting up with recognition when they saw him too, but Dwight prevented any dialogue.

Quick thinking and the ability to adapt to any situation were part of the reasons why the two teenagers were still alive, and they soon learned that life inside of the sanctuary was not so different from the routine at Grady Memorial. The men who called themselves '' saviors '' held all power, as did the policemen under Dawn's command. Workers were treated as second-class citizens, and the power figure was clearly unstable. But Beth had made her choice and was not about to back down.

She and Noah took turns sneaking in the middle of the night to the place where Daryl was being held. They sat with their backs against the door and talked about trivial things. Alexandria, life before, impossible plans, stupid thoughts, silly things they had said at some point in the day, all to distract the man, and even if the hunter never responded, Beth and Noah knew he was listening.

Despite the constant concern for Alexandria, Maggie, and the others, Noah and Beth still found time to know the other workers. There was a lady at the medicine stand who was also from Georgia, with a sweet drawl and a sour sense of humor. She was also underestimated, for being old, for being a southern housewife who, miraculously, by sheer luck, had survived the end of the world.

What the saviors didn't know is that this Georgia matron was also great at passing restricted messages, making prohibited exchanges, and breaking the rules right under their pretentious noses.

Beth was preparing for an escape long before the opportunity came. She had a backpack full of supplies, clothes, and a few stolen weapons hidden in the medicine lady's stand.

When Carl came out of the truck shooting, she was there, fearing for the safety of the boy she had learned to see as a younger brother, the boy who was no longer a boy. Beth winced, but Noah didn't. He had been with Dawn longer, with Reg, with Deanna, and many others. He was smart and knew how people worked.

"He's not going to hurt Carl, he's going to scare the boy for real, but he won't hurt him."

The girl heard only half of his words. she was already going up the stairs without an invitation to the apartment at the top of the building where the leader of the Saviors kept his "wives" a group of sad women in clothes that Beth's parents never would've let her wear.

Daryl was there, serving canapes on a tray. The silent look exchanged between them was enough for Negan to put the puzzle pieces together.

"Damn, I didn't know your taste was so ... rustic, sweetheart. Maybe I should have asked you to marry me".

Ignoring the savior's leader's smirk and glancing at Daryl for him to keep his mouth shut, Beth focused her attention on Carl until she was kicked out off that floor.

Later, when Negan was taking the boy home, they had a moment to say goodbye.

''You can come back if you ask him. You and Noah''.

''I can't ''. Beth replied, hugging him in a brotherly way. "We can't, not without Daryl."

Carl said nothing more but by the conflict-filled expression on his face, the boy understood.

Taking advantage of the embezzlement in security on the savior's base, Beth slipped to the floor of Daryl's cell -where he had certainly been put to avoid trouble- and came across Sherry in the hallway. The two had had brief conversations in the past. The other woman was always kind but deeply depressed. As if someone had pulled the hope of happiness out of her.

''Go. Take him and go. It's now or never, I'm going too. '' That was all Sherry said, throwing a small silver key at Beth.

Greene caught the object on air, opening the cell without hesitation and pushing Daryl out.

''What the hell are you doing, girl?. If they catch us, they'll put you in the fence with me''.

"We're getting out of here." Beth was invisible at the factory, but she knew everyone who lived there and was an expert on quick escapes. She took Daryl directly where he could retrieve his clothes and led him with his head down to the back of the building, leaving the man at the fire exit to pick up Noah and the backpack full of smuggled supplies.

Fat Joey intercepts them in the motorcycle yard, and Beth crossed an iron bar over his head so Daryl didn't need to. She had killed before, Gorman, because he didn't know how to keep those greasy hands to himself, Wolves on the streets of Alexandria because they threatened her home, Saviors at the outpost because they were a threat to her family. Beth was like Carol in that, fiercely loyal. 

Jesus was almost her second victim, but Noah stopped her just in time, and without delay, the trio escaped, going straight to Hilltop. The fact that she escaped again, with the possibility of seeing her sister again in a matter of hours left Beth in an adrenaline rush. It had been a long way since the girl had felt that way, so alive.

\----------

Hilltop welcomed them with open arms. Gregory did not. Beth once again sank into her sister's arms because it seemed unbelievable that they were there together. Along with Sasha, Enid, Daryl, and Noah, Hershel Greene's daughters stopped at the community's newly constructed cemetery to pay respect to Glenn and Abraham's memory.

Beth picked up the pocket watch from the grave, placing the piece in the hands of her older sister.

'' You need to save it for the baby. It's not over yet. We have work to do, Maggie. '' She said, wrapping an arm around the other woman's shoulders and raising her head defiantly.

Maggie nodded, looking for Daryl's embrace as well because she knew how much he felt guilty for what Negan had done.

Sasha and Enid got three sleeping bags and more space in the trailer but one way or another, they almost always ended up sleeping outside. Daryl had never liked to feel trapped, and his stay at the sanctuary only made it worse.

Hilltop nights were cold, windy, and full of whispered conversations. There was no burnt breakfast, a comfortable armchair in front of the fireplace, or mud stains on the living room floor, but there were prayers around the dining table in the trailer, afternoons of hard work, shared laughter ... little by little, Daryl he was returning to normal, he was accepting the idea that he would never be alone again, or abandoned on his own luck, because that sweet girl, with the blond hair and sharp tongue, and that sarcastic boy with a metal arm and immense heart would go until the end of the world for him, they were a package that could not be separated. For better or worse, they were together. They were alive.

When Rick arrived at Hilltop, and the whispers of a battle began to spread among the people, Beth gave him a letter that should be handed over to Judith in the future, in case she didn't survive and packed up again, said goodbye to Maggie again and turned away without looking back again. 

She was the one who asked the King for shelter, and Ezekiel must have seen something in that girl's resilient face because he agreed.

Daryl wanted to go back to Alexandria, Daryl wanted to fight, but it only took a serious look from Beth to him to close his mouth and grunt something about  _ "bossy brats". _

Beth was starting to look terribly like Carol.

Drink from the well, refill the well. Beth enjoyed life in the kingdom. The sun seemed warm again, the days were nice and long, and Daryl had enough outdoor space to not feel claustrophobic. 

Confinement hatred was something he and the King's tigress had in common.

Noah befriended a kind boy named Benjamin, and the group started practicing in a community bandstand every day, weapons, knives, hand-to-hand fighting. Ben learned fast and was not an invasive person, Beth, who always liked children, helped take care of his baby brother, Henry, and once again, a comfortable routine was established among the trio.

Over the weeks, Daryl began to insist that he wanted to visit Carol, and they made their way to the secluded house near the Kingdom. Peletier received them with suspicion, at first. For the first time since she met her, Beth felt that the woman was looking her age.

'' What are you doing here ?. Did something happen ?. Is this about the Saviors? ''

Beth noticed Carol's almost disoriented expression and tensed. Daryl, whose stance had become more rigid, opened his mouth to answer, but Noah was quicker, showing a relaxed smile and shaking his head.

'' Nah, now that he has discovered the Kingdom, Rick sent Beth to convince Ezekiel to join the community collaboration network he wants to create. Maggie is doing the same thing on Hilltop. Daryl and I just came along, you know ... to keep her out of trouble. ''

The lie was so elaborate, so easy, that Beth froze with shock, but Carol seemed to believe it because her face relaxed, and then the other two decided to keep the story.

Beth spent the rest of the visit being careful with what she said. Although the idea was from Daryl, the hunter barely exchanged ten words with Carol, as always, he seemed content to observe the interaction of the other three members of his group and, as Noah really wasn't so close to Peletier, fell to Beth the task of keeping things from getting weird.

In general, that visit was pleasant. The girl talked about Maggie's baby, being careful not to mention Glenn. She talked about the Kingdom, their friendship with Benjamin, and his optimism about a future that seemed more improbable every day.

Carol took Beth by surprise by gently taking the girl's hands between her own, her lips showing a motherly smile.

"I'm not surprised that Rick sent you to convince the King''.

Greene looked at the older woman with a confused expression, but it was Noah, seated beside her, who

explained;

"You are stubborn, and you aren't afraid of anything".

" That's not true ". The girl immediately denied it, and the others disagreed.

"You got me out of Grady Memorial, sacrificing your own chance to escape."

"You saved my life at that hospital too, Daryl told me about Dawn and the other cops''.

Daryl looked at her like he wanted to comment on the Sanctuary thing but stopped himself.

Beth didn't want the credits for doing those things, mainly because she did them in desperation when she knew that she had no other option. When she knew that if she didn't act, then the people she cared about would die.

Before it got dark, the trio set off back towards Ezekiel's community.

"Why did you lie to her?" Daryl questioned Noah as they walked into the woods. Their knives were drawn and their ears listening for any suspicious noise.

That was second nature to Beth now, being able to stay alert and have a conversation at the same time.

Noah shrugged. ''She is not ready to deal with the savior's problem, that's why she ran away the first time. Sometimes we have to lie for the good of the people who are important to us. ''

After a long contemplative moment, Daryl nodded, casting a good-natured look in Beth's direction. "We have work to do."

Rolling her eyes affectionately, the girl punched him on the shoulder playfully, wondering how those two bothersome guys had become the center of her entire universe.

\------------

The days passed, their training on Morgan's strict guidance continued, and Beth was still looking forward to any news about Hilltop, about Alexandria, about the Saviors.

The Kingdom had not yet accepted its role in the coming battle, but Beth had been preparing for war since the moment she stepped out of Grady Memorial.

In Alexandria, she did not feel ready to enter the hospital wing, the memories of Dawn, Gorman, Joan, and the beatings she took were still very fresh but, now, with the threat that Negan and his men represented breathing down on the necks of all of them, Beth knew she lo longer had the luxury to avoid the place.

Noah was working in the gardens, and taking classes with the former architecture professor who taught at the university before she became the Kingdom. Daryl became the grim instructor of self-defense and weapon use. Beth went on to work part-time at the community daycare and part-time as an apprentice in the infirmary.

The nights were filled with exhaustion, dinner in the cafeteria, long conversations with Benjamin and Henry, and laughter. The three had a bedroom in the Kingdom, a bunk bed in the corner with a single bed next to it, and some second-hand living room furniture.

On the nights when Daryl cleaned his new crossbow, with Noah lying on the frayed sofa making occasional comments, Beth could take a deep breath because it was almost like she was home again.

Home, she thought, watching the two men discuss something futile, was anywhere the three could be together. Beth loved Maggie and the rest of the family. God knew she did, but certain things, only Daryl and Noah could understand.

  
Benjamin was killed in a negotiation that went wrong with the Saviors two days after a dinner where he talked with his friends about what he wanted for the new world when the whole situation with Negan ended.

Beth didn't cry but felt hatred. An ugly, poisonous feeling curling up in her chest. She sat in silence with Noah and Daryl in the gazebo where they used to train, her mind blank. The last thing her friend had asked her, was for the girl to save him one of those grilled cheese sandwiches that always ended up too fast in the cafeteria.

Beth had stopped thinking about the justice and injustice of the world a long time ago, but the fact that Benjamin was dead seemed wrong, false. It wasn't supposed to end like that. Ben was like Maggie, absolutely dazzling. Ben was going to change the world.

Maybe life was a big disappointment, maybe the grand finale was a grilled cheese sandwich that no one was going to eat, and reaching that conclusion in such a brutal way ended the girl's appetite.

Benjamin was dead, Morgan freaked out completely, and Beth had to take Henry by the hand for a long walk because Ezekiel was too tired to do so. Henry did not cry, as they expected him to, which was worse in the girl's opinion. She had already seen Carl handle grief using anger, and that was never a good thing.

On the other day, Carol appeared at the Kingdon's gates with a backpack and a rifle on her shoulder. She did not give the infinite sermon that the trio hoped to receive for lying, only hugged each one tightly before taking Henry to the garden.

He returned an hour later, his eyes red and swollen from crying, but his shoulders visibly much lighter.  
\------------

The war was there, knocking on their door, Noah kept the Walkie talkie on the right frequency, listening to the news, listening. Daryl was preparing for the fight in a more physical way. Beth made another emergency bag that she kept under her bed and slept every day with a gun under her pillow.

The next time Rick set foot in the Kingdom, Ezekiel and his people were ready to fight side by side with Alexandria and Hilltop. But the real fight did not happen until much later when Negan and his men invaded Rick's community to execute that stubborn man, who would rather die than leave his people at the mercy of a sociopath's goodwill.

Beth was still sleeping with one eye open. Noah was always on the lookout for news. Daryl knew how to recognize signals like no one else. When Negan gathered his people and marched towards Alexandria, Beth took out the old backpack with a medical kit under the bed and prepared to leave.

Shots were exchanged, betrayals revealed, the King declared that Alexandria would not fall on that day, Beth was there to bandage Michonne and help bury the dead. Later, in the apartment's two-piece kitchen, Beth, Noah, and Daryl sat around the table, with strong coffee between them and exhausted expressions on their sweaty faces.

"We could stay". Dixon spoke, understanding the affectionate manner in which the girl was looking at the stains on the floor and the floral armchair in front of the fireplace.

"No. We have work to do. We still have work to do."

From then on, the battle had a slow pace, unsatisfactory for people who didn't know Rick Grimes like Beth, for people who underestimated people like Noah. But Rick organized the forces and moved them like pieces on a chessboard, conquering the territory piece by piece.

Beth never wanted to be violent. She had killed that was a fact she had learned to live with. The sky is blue. The fire is hot. Some people have to die for others to survive. Beth took lives, saved others, and prayed every night. Beth set up evacuation plans, bandaged, set traps, and sat in silence while Daryl cleaned the crossbow back in the room they shared with Noah in the Kingdom.

Noah was fast and very smart. He took messages from place to place, always going unnoticed, always being underestimated.

Beth still slept with one eye open and waited for Maggie to call on the radio every night. The conversations were short, monosyllabic, sometimes full of tension. Sasha was dead. Benjamin was dead. Beth stopped putting losses in numbers because there was still work to be done.

Negan collected the men from all his outposts and declared war. Rick, Ezekiel, and Maggie spoke about the new world in the back of an old pickup. Beth was in the audience, her blond hair reflecting the sun. She had one arm over her shoulders Noah's, and the other one wrapped around Daryl's.

For each of those people, the new world meant something different, a future for their children, for themselves, hope, peace. For her, the new world was the possibility of eating burnt breakfast, reading books in the comfortable chair around the fire, listening to Noah's comments, and Daryl's complaints. To have a very ordinary life without threats hanging over your head.

Rick gathered the joint forces and began attacking Negan's outposts one by one, knocking them down like pawns on a board. Jesus wanted to give second chances, wanted to forgive, believed in a fresh start but, the first time Jared teased Morgan about murdering Benjamin in cold blood, Beth stood between them and stuck a knife in his lungs without hesitation, watching in silence as the savior drowned painfully in his own blood.

She believed in forgiveness as well, in a new beginning, but she owed nothing to Jesus, and she knew that certain people were beyond that. Some people just weren't worth it.

The next time Beth, Noah, and Daryl returned to the Kingdom, a heavy mourning atmosphere covered the community like a dark cloud. Ezekiel was beside himself with mourning, Shiva's cage as empty as his eyes. The girl organized a memorial that night, with prayers and candles because they were alive and needed to mourn. Beth talked about honor, faith, about hope, she talked, and maybe she lied about everything being okay eventually because nobody else wanted to do it. After all, sometimes you need to lie for the good of the people you care about.

The days passed, Beth now spoke to Carl on the radio instead of Maggie, and on a hot afternoon, the girl went to meet him and Rick halfway between the two communities. The risks were still the same. The saviors did not become a lesser threat because of a few defeats.

Carl wanted to help a man in the forest. Rick didn't want to. She decided to act because the look on the boy's face was the look of someone who would probably do something stupid. Perhaps in a world without Beth Greene, this bullshit would cost Carl his life but, in the world where Beth lives, Siddiq has become an important member, not only for the Kingdom but for the entire community collaboration network that would come into existence in the future.

\-----------

Agreements were being made. Sides, chosen. Alliances established. Rick and Maggie were playing the big game. Beth took on collateral damage, bandages, advice, or just sitting in silence while someone else vented. She read every post-traumatic stress book available at the Kingdom library and replenished her emergency backpack.

When Carol failed to get Ezekiel out of the room, Beth invaded the community leader's quarters with inflammable determination. Unceremoniously, the girl pulled the curtains aside, standing on the edge of the bed with both hands on her hips and a tired expression.

"Get up. You have work to do".

"I'm not a king. I'm not a leader. I'm nothing. I'm just some guy." It was the answer the man gave, but maybe Carol and the others were right, after all, because Beth wasn't going to give up so easily.

'' You no longer have the option of being nobody. A person once told me that it is easier to make a deal with the devil when it's not you who have to pay the price. You made the deal. Now pay the price. ''

Beth left a static Ezekiel in the room before marching out of there. Later, when the Saviors invaded the Kingdom, the girl's words reverberated in the leader's mind, and he was captured making sure that each member of his community had escaped.

Sometimes you have to lie for the good of the people you care about, but sometimes you have to throw the horrible truths right in their faces so they can see their own greatness.

Beth, Noah, Daryl, and Siddiq led the caravan with the Kingdon survivors to Alexandria, exchanging one battlefield for another. Negan had set the community on fire and, taking advantage of the element of surprise, Carl put the evacuation plan into practice, with Daryl, Siddiq, Beth, and Noah guiding civilians.

This was Carl's home, those people were his people, and when he told Beth he was going to the walls to try to get Negan to think rationally, or, in the worst case, to distract him, Greene felt so proud the boy she had the privilege of seeing grow up that she wanted to scream.

The whole world was a panel of flame and ash, with columns of fiery smoke spiraling toward the night sky, just like the farm on the night it was taken. Alexandrians and Kingdom residents fled the back of the safe zone on emergency buses. Beth took the wounded to the underground tunnels, where she and Siddiq treated them as best they could with the girl's backpack supplies.

without looking back.

Not long after, in the community led by her sister, the saviors attacked, and the girl had to struggle with everything she had to ensure that the losses were minimal. In the midst of the battle, she and Daryl had a lapse of Noah fighting three saviors at the same time and furiously pushed their way to catch up. However, Dwight was quicker, hitting him with an arrow before escaping.

The only thing that kept Beth from advancing on his neck was Daryl's arm around her waist and the pained expression on Noah's face.

Later, when the others affected were taken by the fever and died little by little from the clearly infected weapons that the saviors used, the girl fought with God for the first time in her life.

'' Don't look at me like that. If I die today, I will die peacefully because I know you are going to take care of each other, and don't waste your time on something stupid like revenge, Beth, you have work to do. ''

\-----------

Dwight thought Daryl was an imbecile and did not know Beth well enough to have a concrete opinion about the strange girl, but he had seen Noah at the factory, whistling in a good mood while cleaning the dirt off the others. Noah, making Sherry laugh when he found her crying hidden in some deserted corridor. Noah, responding to the saviors' provocations with comments so clever that men rarely realized they had been insulted.

The boy was kind and smart. He never expected anything in return. Dwight had been around since the beginning, he had met all kinds of people, from the worst to the best, and if there was someone who didn't deserve to die like that, it was Noah. So when shooting the boy, D used a clean arrow.

\-----------

Noah did not die that night, and the siege continued to close around the outcome of the final battle between the communities and Negan. Perhaps in a world without Beth Greene, it was Daryl outside, seeking revenge on traitors, seeking someone who he could blame. But in the real world, the hunter's biggest concern was keeping the two stupid brats who were his responsibility with their heads on their shoulders for another day.

With Dwight's information, the joint forces of the three communities were divided into two groups. Those who would stay to protect Hilltop and those who would fight against the Saviors.

Noah was left in the care of Carl and Siddiq. Daryl and Beth took their things and went to the fight. The battle would be arduous, but perhaps the last one they would have to fight for a long time, and that alone was worth it. When the information became a trap, the only thing the girl could think about was that she hadn't said goodbye to Noah properly and that she had taken Daryl with her, and there would be no one left to look after her friend.

However, sometimes you have to throw the horrible truths right in the face of the people you care about so they can see their greatness. Rosita had met Eugene on the road weeks before, and in a resounding gesture, the man and his defective bullets saved them all.

The other saviors were killed or surrendered themselves, but the duel that would define everyone's fate was taking place a few meters ahead, with Negan and Rick grappling at the edge of the forest. Rick wanted to kill the man for everything he had done, but Carl's words came to his mind, the new world, forgiveness, honor.

Negan won a cell in the rebuilt Alexandria. Maggie screamed until she lost her voice, and Beth didn't know how to feel about all of that until Carl sat down with her by the lake that Daryl had burned in what seemed like another life when they fought against the walkers in the streets of the community.

"When I talked to my dad about Negan, I was thinking about Hershel."

The girl looked at him without understanding. The boy smiled shyly.

" Even at the end of the world, he always chose to do the right thing instead of the easiest. It would be easier for us to kill Negan, I know that, but shouldn't we have passed that point by now ?. I don't want Judith to grow up in a world like that. I don’t want her to end up choosing the easiest way because she doesn’t know something better, because she thinks she has no other choice "

Beth didn't have an answer to give but once a week for all the years that followed, she went to visit Negan, sometimes to talk, sometimes to read, sometimes to listen in silence to his outbursts and regrets.

The ugly truth that no one wanted to accept was that any of them could have turned into Negan.

Time passed, communities prospered. Beth watched Judith learn to talk, walk and run, with the nephew she loved more than anything close behind. Beth watched the birth of Rick Grime's third child and taught him his first words. Saw Carl and Enid's friendship turn into romance and then friendship again.

She moved with Daryl and Noah to a large corner house with a large living room and a bookcase full of books. The girl's favorite armchair had survived the fire, as well as the sofa and coffee table.

Noah continued to burn breakfast on his cooking days and continued with the sarcastic comments over one of Daryl's shoulders as the hunter cleaned the crossbow, trying not to smile.

For the rest of her life, Beth sat every night in that flowery chair with a book in her hand, occasionally peeking over the cover. Daryl got a dog and new mud stains on the living room floor. Noah became an architect, and although he spent a lot of time going from community to community, he always managed to get home. To those two strangers who had somehow become the most important people in the world.

This was not a perfect life, but it belonged to Beth, and for her, it was good enough.


End file.
